Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Matthew 23:8 – 12

I am 88 years old, and super glad to be a servant of Jesus Christ.  Through his grace, He enabled me to minister in ways I would have not believed.  Husband, father, teacher, administrator, missionary, author, friend, leader!  Me?  That is hard to believe.  But it is the truth that blesses my heart.  I praise the Lord for that.

But, honestly, I must admit that I enjoy being known as teacher, a writer, and leader and the like.  But today, as I read these penetrating words of Jesus I am reminded of the fact that I am a humble servant of Jesus Christ.  In fact, the more I reflect on my life the more I am made aware of the fact that who I am, what I did and do, my every joy is based on the amazing fact that Jesus Christ is my all in all.  My greatest joy is that Jesus has paid the price to be in me doing what He does.

So, as the Holy Week commences, I bow before the Lord once again, if I may use that metaphor, and take my position as a humble servant of the King of Glory!  I have no deeper joy.

My gift to the Lord this Easter season is my humble adoration and praise for God’s love for me and for letting me in on what He is doing in the world.  I cannot even begin to think of a greater blessing than that.

I do not really remember, if I ever knew, the name of this early blooming lily that springs up in the Spring with great vigor!  We have a row of these at the foot of our yard near our neighbor’s shed.  I never tire of their winsome beauty – a sanguine way to punctuate the coming of Spring.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So, you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”

Matthew 23:1 – 7

During Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were the most popular, the most exemplary, Jewish movement.  They were the Jews of the Jews, the most dedicated to the Law of Moses.  The Pharisees took the law literally while the Sadducees, the ruling party, spiritualized the Law, so to speak.  The religious people of Israel lauded the Pharisees for their obedience to law, in every detail.

So, it is not surprising that Jesus pointed to the Pharisees’ obedience to the Law as God’s will for mankind to be a good thing.  He almost complemented them!  So, you must be careful to do everything they tell you. Then, in a quick shift of focus, he criticized them severely, not for their adherence to the Law, but for using their exalted, holy position to instruct the Jews on how to please God, by complete obedience to their lists and lists of laws. The had the appearance of being most holy, but were far from it. They made the Godly life all but impossible for the Jews. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

The Pharisees were intent on emphasizing their holiness. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”

That is how Jesus saw them, contrary to the popular view that elevated the Pharisees above all Jewish teachers.  He saw through their attempts to be the most exemplary Jews.  They were, in his eyes, the greatest hypocrites! For they were convinced that they were doing the most holy thing possible, obeying the law handed down to them and they looked with disdain on all others.

I write these thoughts as Lent comes to a close.  I want to praise God for the saving work of Jesus Christ that opened the door for a poor sinner like me – to enjoy the blessings of God.  I was reminded this morning of how Jesus is now the Mediator between God and man.  Without that mediation, I stand as hard and unloving as a Pharisee.  God, have mercy on me.

I was blessed beyond measure by godly parents, especially my mother, who was there at my side in all my life.  I do not know who snapped this picture but there is Mom, a bit out of focus, with  her thick eyeglasses that she wore after her glaucoma op.  I owe this woman more that I can say.  When she went on to glory at age 95 she left me with a model of a godly person.  After all these years, she is still near me in my thoughts and values.  Praise God for my mother, Trella Risch Jacobs.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,  “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”  “The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”  No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. 

Matthew 22:41 – 46

Jesus was facing the most difficult thing imaginable, dying to make it possible for believers to be saved, to live forever.  The horrors that he went through are beyond our ability to absorb.  We owe Him a debt that we can never pay.

But, wait, one more interchange.  Jesus asked the Pharisees, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”  Without hesitation they responded, “The son of David.”  They did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth, a nobody, so to speak, could possibly be the Messiah.  He was, by birth, a descendant of David, that was common knowledge.  But he had no right to call himself the Messiah!  In other words, can Jesus of Nazareth be the promised Messiah?  The Pharisees could not even begin to believe that.

Jesus reminded them that David called his descendant, his son, Lord.  Then Jesus got literal!  If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”  Full stop.  The conversation ended and from then on, there were no more questions.  It was getting ridiculous!  It became a play on words.

Today we hope to have our first dandelion of the season.  Anna Ruth fixes it with a lot of bacon and other goodies so it is just fine.  Both of us grew up with annual such spring tonics.  We are expecting Alan and Lisa, our first visit since their Uganda trip.   Eager to catch up.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34 – 40.

Jesus had no time for fussing with the details of what was thought to be the law of Moses.  Both the Pharisees and Sadducees asked trick questions to fault Jesus.  Here we read of another.  They had so many commandments (over 300 just to do with the Sabbath) that it staggered the imagination.  Furthermore, each was as important to keep as any other.  All had to be obeyed, without exception.  Of course, their masters of the law kept coming up with new commands as they applied the law of Moses to changing times.  The Pharisees were especially good at that.  I am not sure about the Sadducees but even though they had a different view of the laws from the Pharisees, they pushed matters of obedience to the law just the same.  It all had to do with identifying the law that must be obeyed and then obeying it.  The quarrel between them had to do with which law was more important to keep than another.

So, the question that both parties asked assumed that keeping the law pleased God and is the main object of religion.  On one question they agreed, if not the answer, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 

Jesus cut through it all by lifting up the ultimate commandment, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

There it is.  I am faced every day with questions about what I should do to please Jesus.  He points me to the ultimate question, “Do I love God with all my heart, soul and mind and do I love my neighbor as myself?”   This pleases Jesus.  All behavior must be judged based on love.  That is an entirely new way to live life.

We have had this Amish-made swing for about 25 years.  Now and again, as last month, I replaced all the wood, including the top,  and it runs like new!

That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Matthew 22:23 – 33

Now it is the Sadducees’ turn to trap Jesus.  The Pharisees and Herodians had just failed to do so.

Mathew notes, in introducing the event, that the Sadducees reject the idea of a physical Resurrection yet they appeared to believe in it in their question.

The woman in the story had at least 7 legal husbands.  Everything was done within the law of Moses.  Evidently, she could not have children.  She died childless but had a husband.  So, they asked Jesus, “Whose wife shall will she be?” in the resurrection?  This question has as its heart whether the idea of resurrection was just a fanciful idea or true.  The question has no consequence at all if there is no resurrection.

Jesus replied, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”  He did not speculate, but just told the truth.

They claimed to be true to the Law of Moses, given by God himself.  They concentrated all their attention on the Law.  Jesus went further by pointing to God’s words.  He said, “’I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  By denying the resurrection of the dead the Sadducees discounted the Word of God that all Jews knew.

Jesus, in his usual rather casual way, said that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living!  The Pharisees could not swallow that.  Can I?

Easter is near, a time when I am reminded that my sins are forgiven, I am a living child of God.  I live in the miracle of the love and grace of Jesus Christ who has made it possible for me to live forever.  God who loves me and saves me is alive!  Because of his love for me, I am alive!